"Carapace" wine cellar by Arnaldo Pomodoro at Tenuta Castelbuono

It’s Arnaldo Pomodoro’s first sculpture of architectural proportions. A jewelry chest for wines, a cellar in which it’s possible to live and work together. The Maestro designed it in collaboration with architect Giorgio Pedrotti for Tenuta Castelbuono (Umbria) belonging to the Lunelli family, owners of the Cantine Ferrari for whom he had already made sculpture "Centenarium".

From the first inspection, Pomodoro had imagined and given a name to his work: "Carapace". A cellar shaped like a turtle, symbol of longevity and stability, whose shell joins the sky with the earth.

It took 6 years to build "Carapace", which was concluded in 2012 and now stands among the vineyards like a great copper dome, carved with cracks that resemble the furrows in the ground embracing it. A sculptural element in the shape of a red colored dart lodged next to the dome accents it against the landscape. And evokes the aspiration of going beyond the work, as Grillo Dorfles writes, "towards an idea of threshold, of the doorstep to a land that produces an extraordinary wine, in this case, the Sagrantino di Montefalco".

A cellar that rouses emotions, as occurred to its author, Anraldo Pomodoro. He stated so himself in fact: "For the first time in my life I could experience the emotion of walking, talking and drinking inside one of my works".